Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, 6th., NOVEMBER, 1919. WEALTH FROM THE LAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1919, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star THURSDAY, 6th., NOVEMBER, 1919. WEALTH FROM THE LAND.

The tabulation of the returns from dairying in this district is of arresting attention as indicating where the wealth of the commupity is now beginning to come front! The five factories referred to in Mjr Wild’s paper a,t .the .Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday night, gave a gross yield for the year of £51,819— almost a. £I,OOO average for every week of the year. This total does not include the output from the Kumara factory, nor the dairy produce sent through Greymouth, and of course , t' e home made commodities sold

throughout the district. These not inconsiderable items added, and the earning power to the dairying industry will exceed considerably an average of £I,OOO per week. This substantial return flowing in steadily gives solidarity to the country, increased value to the land, and a permanence to settlement—building up the stability of the community. The five areas which contribute the major portion of this wealth are a fractional part of Westland and in turn the returns are won from

a comparatively small proportion of improved land ill the respective districts. me tarm lands-are not submitted to any intensive cultivation. The areas in the main are rougn lauds, cleared and grassed in days gone by and. left to go on reproducing grass ini exhausted. There is not much system revealed in tilling and cultivating the grass lands to produce more grass. It is sufficient in numerous cases that the fields go on reproducing themselves, and the volume of- feed depends chiefly on the kindness of the season. If it is an “early” season so much the better, and if it is a “dry” season (comparatively speaking) better still. Nature plays a haphazard part for many of the fields, where the settlers are not disposed to help themselves by endeavour-

ing to assist nature—cultivating and draining their paddocks, fertilising the fields and providing standbys in the way of winter feed, or preparing to meet emergencies when the season is not “early” and l perhaps, also, not “dry”—and therefore extra- severe. The

yield from dairying under the circumstances in which, the farm lands are , treated is, therefore, surprising. What it would do if more land were cleared up, more intensively cultivated, and above all provision for more generous winter feed and for extreme seasons, is not difficult to anticipate. The care and the selection of the herd are very important, but that is not all. It is necessary, also, in the care of the stock to see that the feeding side is specially catered for. Given these attentions to the stocky and the proper system of dealing with farm

lands, and the wealth to he derived from dairying will go up by leaps and bounds. The climate of Westland- is often railed against as a bar to successful dairying, hut returns such as were gleaned last year when the climatic conditions were much below normal—a bad season in fact—give an immediate answer to the pessimists. The results in point of fact are an assurance that dairying is capable of great expansion throughout the district. In the light of circumstances as they are, dairying is only in its infancy and intelligently developed with due regard to the care of the stock, and the tillage of the land, is capable of producing much enhanced wealth above the figures impressive though they are by themselves.